Comments on: Will Pakistan’s Urdu Script Be Lost in Texting Translation?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:36:00 +0000

Urdu script will go the way of the dodo bird not as an official policy but as a reality – it is a difficult script to write and read and has too many exceptions. Maybe more precise than latin script, however, the simplicity of Latin coupled with all the world’s relevant content transliterated in it will make Urdu script less relevant commercially. Urdu and hindi script will be replaced for convenience by latin scrip from bottom up no matter what folks try to do top-down.

By: Azad Qalamdar

Azad Qalamdar — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:18:00 +0000

“Trying to write a language in another script is like trying to drop off your skin and trying to have a new one,” said Rauf Parekh.
bollocks! surely mr.Parekh’s statement is driven by good-old bourgeois nationalism.. a script can best be likened to a language’s ‘dress’. whatever dress one wears, it doesnt change one’s ethnicity.

Roman is here and not going anywhere.. being used for about 300 years to write Hindi-Urdu and is the only practical solution to resolve the crippling digraphia afflicting Hindi-Urdu..

By: Fahad Desmukh

Fahad Desmukh — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Thanks for the note! I’d be very interested to see a sample of Roman Urdu in the Army

By: Fahad Desmukh

Fahad Desmukh — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Thanks for the note! I’d be very interested to see a sample of Roman Urdu in the Army

By: A Mitchell

A Mitchell — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:11:00 +0000

The upcoming launch of domain names in Urdu script, on both
sides of the dot, will extend Internet access to millions of new users who cannot or will not use English-language keyboards. Urdu
script will also be able to be used in email addresses.

Internet accessibility in Urdu will enable companies to
provide better service to their customers. It will reduce dependency on
specialized Urdu-only apps that ghettoize users away from the Web and into proprietary walled
gardens.

This bridging of the digital divide is being implemented
with unusual speed by India.
In Pakistan,
Urdu online is seen primarily as a medium for content rather than ecommerce,
customer service or as a vehicle for economic growth.

Pakistani businesses are expected to avail themselves
of access to Urdu online through Indian infrastructure, placing those
businesses in the odd position of branding themselves as Indian as they
engage customers in Urdu. More on that issue: http://x.co/PkBrands

By: Tariq Mufti

Tariq Mufti — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:05:00 +0000

Another early use was in the Royal Indian Army from the 19th century, that allowed English and Anglo-Indian officers to communicate with Indian NCO’s. This practice continued in the Pak Army till at least the ’60′s; Officers and NCO’s used to be quite fluent in ‘Roman’ Urdu, as I remember from some cousins. Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan would have all their Urdu speeches written in Roman.